Greetings Readers!
Here is the latest Monday Muse with a morning meditation, perennial reminder, question, and recommendation(s) to consider.
Be wise and be well this week!
📿 Morning Meditation
This week’s morning meditation is courtesy of The Wisdom School podcast (Apple or Spotify). Today’s meditation is a short selected reading (delivered in a Lectio Divina style) from The Could of Unknowing, an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in the latter half of the 14th century.
📌 Perennial Reminder(s)
“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” … A key to being less afraid of life is simply to see it a bit more clearly and completely. Shielding one’s eyes when confronted with sudden danger is a protective reflex, yet shutting one’s eyes to the fullness of reality—its novelty, its foreignness, its brutality—can make one feel particularly vulnerable, afraid, and small. At least that is James’s suspicion. “The art of being wise,” James held, “is knowing what to overlook” but also knowing when to pay absolute attention.
Source: Be Not Afraid of Life by John Kaag and Jonathan Van Belle
💡 Perennial Question(s)
What is friendship?
We must use the resulting free time and headspace to get and maintain what we need, especially what Epicurus considers the greatest source of tranquility—friendship. We must make and keep good friends, which well-seasoned adults realize is more difficult than it sounds. Remember that Epicureans consider reciprocity, mutual concern, and shared values the bedrock of friendship. … For Epicurus, all humans have needs—the frailty is the point. Mutual protection and shared values allow friends to acquire both security and joy on equal terms.
Source: Living for Pleasure by Emily Austin (Listen to the conversation).
🔥 Recommendation(s)
This week’s recommendation is a short introduction to Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Transcendentalism. Thoreau’s classic work, Walden, is our upcoming book for Reading & the Good Life this month!
🎧 Recent Podcast(s)
Thank you for reading/listening; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
J.W.
P.S. As always, if you’re interested in becoming a member but unable to afford it. Feel free to request a complimentary membership or use this discount link for anyone needing a little help.
J. W., I especially enjoyed your reading of the Tao Te Ching passage, this passage itself especially beautiful.
“If you want to become whole, let yourself become broken.”